Coal-mining machine



J. D. PUGH.

COAL MINING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30,1915.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

SI UM; [306 J. D. PUGH.

COAL MINING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30, 1915.

Patented Apr. 12,1921.

2 SHEETS SHEET 2.

sTAT;: ;S:. iAr-/ Joint in. men, 0F I UR Y QVA A Tc all whom z't mayconcern:

' Be it known that I, J oHN D; PUGH, a'citi-' zen of the United States,residing at Harrisburg,- Dauphin county, State of Pennsylvania, have.invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coal-Minlng Machines, of

whichthe following is aspecification. This inventionrelates to a coalmining machine and while the machine described is primarily intended forcutting coal it can, with 'a suitable blade, be adapted to cut wood,steel or any other material. v

The principal object of the invention is t o provide a machine in whicha flexible cutter in the form of an elongated loopis supported anddriven from one end only, leaving the other end of the, loop free andunsupported exceptthrough thecutter from the driven end thereof.The"arrangement of a cutter in, this form makes it possible,

by tilting the cutter loop slightly, to cut a is very desirable inmining coal. 7

Another object is to provid a machine which is portable so that itcan beeasily moved from place to place and easily manipulated. '1

Another feature; of the invention corn prises the novel form ofcutter-,which is capable of cutting. in, any one of several directions.

sharp V-shaped slot into a coal bank, which Another object of theinvention to vide means such as an exhaust fan torremoving dust from theslot cutby the ma', chine to awpoint away from the machine where it willnot disturb the miner.

The invention also contemplates providing a pump on-the machine by meansof which water maybe delivered to the cutter to lubricate-and coolit,and to the slot in which the cutter works to keep down the dustand-Iflow it out. V 5 1 i The above and, other objects and the novelfeatures of the invention, will be apparent I from the followingdescription taken in connection with the draw1ng,in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view-of a machine embodying my invention, .partsthereof being broken away toiexpose'the interior or the hood and easingthrough which the cutter travels;

, shown inFig. 1;.

Fig. 3is a cross sectional view of the nia- Fi 2. is -a side elevationof the tease COAL-MIININGJLMACHINEQ i Specification oflletter s lfatentii PatfiintediApl 12, 1 921. I Applica tiion" filed J'unc'ho,1915. ,'Seri al No. 37,265, Ii 7 V 5 Fig. 4: is a perspective of atypeiof chine embodying the invention,

machine may make in. the fa'ceof a coal connected'to thetdrive shaftofjthe machine;

'Referring to the drawing, the numeral 10 .f

designates 'a casing for thedriving and guiding devices and consists ofa shell havinggthe top and'bottom walls" 101 and. 102 and a curved rearwall 103 and having an open front end as at 11. 3

The. machine has ;a flexible endless cutter 12 which is in-thel rem ofanelo'nga'ted loop and isdriven from one end only by a driving" wheel13; mounted on-the shaft 14- and connected by bevel gears '15 and 116100a power shaft 17 .1 The upper. end of the shaft 14' and the bevelgearing .15 and 16..i s.-inclosed in a-dustproof casing-18..mounted1onthe top wall 101 of the machine. T The shaft 17 maybe connectedbyafiexible shaft or other suitable means to a motor mounted on mounteddirectly; on the machinefas indi cated at 1-9 inflf'fi'g. 2 indotted-lines, or:th.e motor maybe directly connectedto. the cutter, ifpreferred, without interposed gearin'gs, asshownin Fig.9.

i a truck; (not shown) or thejmotor may be Referring to. Fig. 4, thecutterirl2- has a 7 central core 20, whichforms thejbackbone or axis'ofthe cutter-and whichis made of highv grade spring toolsteelorcthemsuitjable material. The cutter. 12 is :provided with cuttingteeth 21 which are-preferably formed integrally with the backbone 20 andarranged; four in a group. 20? from 1 eachother so that the cutter incross section constructed so that the teeth 21 may beinserted separatelytherein, butnit is preferabletohavethe teeth anintegral partof thebackbone orwcor'e ofthe cutter; This; arrangement of teeth is preferablebecause. the cutter will be capable of acting in any directionwith.respect tothe axis. of the cutter,

is'jstar' shapedplThe backbone 20 mayibe butl-I do not wish to belimited to .thenum-l ber, position or shape of the teeth. The

. inner ,side of" the cutter or that surface which engages the surfaceof the driving wheel 13 has recesses 22 shapedto take the teeth on theperipheral surface of thewheel Y teeth 24 and v25 on opposite sidesthereof.

held in contact therewith by means 13, although in some forms of cuttera;fric-,. tion drive may be preferable, in which case the wheel 13 wouldhave no teeth thereon.

In Fig. 5"is illustrated a flat blade for cutting wood or othermaterials in two directions and consists of a core 23 with the Thiscutter frictionally engages the driving wheel 26 which corresponds tothe wheel 13 of Fig. 1. This form of cutter is desirable for. jig sawand cabinet-makers work.

The outer end 27 of the. cutter 12 ,is free to assume approximatelyisnaturalshape, -the cutter having suflicient inherent resili- 13 andthe guide rollers 29', being sprung back against the guide'rollers andretained by themin contact withthe wheel 13 so as to automaticallyfollow it up. asit wears.

Near the point where the cutter 12' enters and leaves the casihg lO arepairs of top and bottom guide rollers 30, 31, which are located}oppositev the end guide rollers 2 91. Referring to Fig.3, the top andbottom guide rollers 30,. 31" are mounted-in bearings 301 and 311. onthe top and oottomwalls 101, and'102, respectively, of the casing and onopposite sidesof the wheel 13. The end 28 of the" elongated. cutter 12is therefore compelled to follow the wheel 13 so as to be positivelydriven thereby, and the driven end isrigidly supported, and, throughthe-cutter 12, rigidly supports the outer, free end thereof whichengages the material to be cut.

No additional supporting meansfor the outer free end of the cutter are:required since the cutter itself has sufiicient inherent rigidity tosupport itself from its driven end.

Thecutter 12 may, ofcourse,be driven by worm gearing fromthe motor 19orby any other form of driving mechanism which could be arranged in placeofthe bevel gearing 15,16 or the wheel 13.may be connected directxto amotor shaft.withoutinterposed gearing.

Since the shaft 17"islocated at oneside of the center of the cutter 12there will'be a slighttendency for the machine to rotate about the axisofthe shaft 17. Incase this proves objectionable, the driving gearing 7maybe arrangedas shown in Figs. 6' and 7. In-that arrangement, the shaft33 to which the driving wheel'- 13 is connectedprojects from the top andbottom sides of the casing shaft 3? meshes with the gear 34 and a gear'38 on the shaft 39 meshes with, the gear 35, the gears 36 and 38 beingpositioned on oppositesides of the axis of the shaft. 33 so that theirdirection of rotation will be correct. The main driving shaft 40 carriesa gear 41 which mesheswith the"ge ars; 42 and 43 on the shafts 37 and39', respectively, and onv opposite sidesofthe axis ofthe shaft 40.

The shaft 40 is journaled at one end" the casing 10 and is alsoiournaled in thejbjox 144- at the center of the handle 45,.co'nnected tothe casinglO and by meansof which the machine is manipulated, Thepairs-ofgears 34, 36 and 35., 38 are inclosedwithin] the:casings 46 and,47 mounted on the top 7 and bottom sides of the casing 10tov keep thedust from those gears.

I The machine shown in Figs; 1, 2 and 3 is also provided'with a handle48flfor manipulating the same'and it is moved" along'the seam cut by thecutter12'; the machine may besuspended by ahook 49' from an overheadtrolley extending along the front of the coal bank if desired. Q r

The amount. of bend andtheextent of restraint which the rollers 29 putYon the cutter-12 will largely govern the shape of theifree end 27 ofthecutter. Referring to Fig. 8 it will-be seen that by tilting themachine slightly from the plane shown-iii'Fig. 2 and feeding it atrightangle's to the longi tudinal center line of themachine ofFig. 1, itwill be possible to cut a V-shaped slot into acoal bank, which is adesirable type of cut in coal mining. f

In order to draw the cuttings and fine coal dust from the slot in whichthecutter 12 works, I have provid ed" exhaust fan 59 mounted onthe shaft14' at the bottom of the casing 10 and having a suction tube 501 whichextends through 'a. collapsible hood 51 at the front 'endof the'casing'lo an'd draws the finer particles out of the slot and discharges them throughthegpipe' 502 into some receptacle located at some,other point or into the air, at/apoint where. they will not disturb theminer; A pump 52' mounted on the shaft 14 below.'the exhauster fiOservesto force a stream of water through the pipe 521 into the seamof coalin'whi'ch the cutter 12- is working to keep down-the dust and lubricatethe cutter and also may serveto flow out some'of'thecoaldust. Thepurpose ofthe fan and pump are in; some respects similar and either orbothmay derive power from a source independentof the cutting machine. It I While'I have shown and described'the' machine in detail it will; beapparent'that vari sible without departing from the spirit of with anendless flexible cutter having sufli-' cient stiffness and resiliency totend to assume the form of a circle, of holding means for engaging asection of said cutter and holding it bent on a curve having a diameterless than said circle leaving the balance of said cutter projecting fromsaid holding means, and means for driving the cutter.

2. In a cutting machine the combination with an endless flexible cutterhaving sufiicient stiffness and resiliency to tend to assume the form ofa circle, of holding means for engaging a section of said cutter andholding it bent on a curve having a diameter less than said circleleaving the balance of said cutter projecting from said holding means,the projecting sides of said cutter leaving the holding means at suchangle to each other as to cause the projecting portion to assume anelongated.- loop form, and means for driving said cutter.

8. In a cutting machine the combination with an endless flexible cutterhaving sufficient stiffness and resiliency to tend to assume the form ofa circle, of holding means for so engaging and holding a section of saidcutter that the two sides of the projecting portion of said cutter'areat such an". angle to each other as to cause the pro ecting portion toassume the form of an elongated loop, and means within said holdingmeans for driving the cutter.

4:. In a cutting machine the combination with an endless fiexiblecutterhaving sufficient stiffness and resiliency to tend to assume the form ofa circle,'of a freely movable holding means so engaging and holding asmall portion of said cutter that the two sides of the projectingportion of the cutter will leave it at such an angle to each other as tocause the projecting portion to assume the form of an elongated'loop,and means for driving the cutter.

5. In a cutting machine the combination with an endless flexible cutterhaving suflicient stiffness and resiliency to tend to assume the form ofa circle, of a casing through which said cutter passes including meansso engaging the small section of said cutter within it as to make itfollow a fixed ate saiddriving means.

path through said'casing and to leave and enter said casing at suchangles as to cause the projecting portion-to assume the form of anelongated loop, and means in said casing for driving said cutter. V

6. In a cutting machine the combination with an endless flexible cutterhaving sufficient stiffness and resiliency to tend to assume the form ofa circle, a casing open at one side through which a section less thanhalfof said cutter extends into said casing, a rotary shaft in saidcasing, means for driving said shaft, azwheel' on said shaft engaging atits periphery the said section of said'cutter within the casing, andguide rollers for holding said section in contact with the surface ofthe drive wheel and for so positioning the part of said section which isentering the casing and the part that is leaving as to make theprojecting portion of the cutter assume an elongated loop form. 7. In adevice of the class descrlbed, the

combination with an endless bendable cutter having considerablestiffness and resiliency, of a freely movable holder engaging a sectionconsiderably less than half, of said outter and so holding it as tocause the'projecting portion to assume an elongated loop form, means insaid holder for preventing relative movement between said cutter andholder except longitudinal movement of the cutter, means in said holderfor driving said cutter longitudinall andfiexible means for supplyingpower to operate said driving means. 8. In a device of the classcombination with an endless bendable cutter having considerablestiffness and resiliency and being provided with cutting points or teethso arranged that any side of the cutter,

described, the

will operate to cut material against which X it is brought, of a freelymovable holder engaging a section considerably less than half of saidcutter and so holding ity as to cause the projecting portion toassume anelongated'loop form, means in said holder for preventingrelativemovement between said cutter and holderexcept longitudinal'movement of the cutter, means in said holder.

for driving said cutter longitudinally and flexible means forsupplyingpower to oper- In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

' JOHN D. PUGH. Witnesses: i I

JOHN R. Hoornn, WALTER H. BILLINGSVLEA.

